State investigators Wednesday blamed a series of human errors for September's fatal crash on Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, underscoring concerns by some workers that efforts to make ride maintenance more efficient have undermined the park's once-unassailable reputation for safety.

As state investigators probe why a wheel assembly came off a ride at Disneyland in a fatal September crash, many park workers worry that a six-year cost-cutting effort to make ride maintenance more efficient is ultimately to blame. In 1997, Disneyland moved to what is known in aerospace and other safety-conscious industries as "reliability-centered maintenance."

Two dozen people have said they were injured on Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad since 2001, according to state documents released Wednesday. The documents track injuries ranging from a fatal heart attack to minor complaints of dizziness. Follow-up state investigations and ride inspections did not reveal any safety problems. A state inspector spent an hour at Big Thunder Mountain as recently as Aug.

The 22-year-old man killed Friday at Disneyland bled to death after suffering blunt force trauma of the chest, Orange County coroner's officials said Tuesday. Marcelo Torres of Gardena was in the front car of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad when the locomotive became separated from the rest of the cars and derailed. Torres died at the scene, and 10 others were injured at the Anaheim amusement park.

A woman died at a New Orleans amusement park when she was struck by one of the rides, officials said. Rosa Donaldson, 52, was killed in an accident on a teacup-style "circular family ride" called the Joker's Jukebox, said Ann Wills, spokeswoman for Six Flags New Orleans amusement park. Local news reports said Donaldson apparently was standing near one of the cars trying to strap in her 4-year-old grandson when the ride started up.

A roller coaster at a Six Flags amusement park in Largo stalled nearly 140 feet off the ground, stranding 24 passengers for more than two hours before workers repaired the ride. No one was injured. The malfunction occurred at about 4 p.m. on Two Face: The Flip Side, a roller coaster billed as a ride "for those who want to look terror in the eyes." Maintenance workers got the ride running at 6:10 p.m., said Prince George's County fire spokesman Mark Brady.

Eleven people died and 26 were injured in southern India when high winds toppled a Ferris wheel they were riding at an annual Hindu festival in the town of Karur, police said. The victims were crushed by the wheel. More than 5,000 people were at the fair but no one on the ground was hurt, police said.

The only government-owned amusement park in the United States cannot bar a convicted child molester from performing a clown act and soliciting money in all public areas, according to a judge's ruling made public Thursday. The judge ruled that it is unconstitutional for Westchester County, N.Y., which owns and runs Playland Park about 20 miles north of New York, to ban solicitation in its parks. U.S.

Walt Disney Co. has settled a suit filed by a woman who said she suffered back injuries on Disneyland's Splash Mountain ride. The suit alleged that on Aug. 8, 2000, an operator started the ride before Yvonne Traina, 67, was strapped in, throwing her rapidly backward. She screamed and the ride was stopped, throwing her forward, the suit said. The suit, filed in May 2001, was settled Monday just before trial was to have started in Los Angeles Superior Court.

A pendulum-style ride at the state fair in Raleigh killed a worker who may have slipped on the ride platform, officials said. A 15-year-old girl on the ride was treated at a hospital for bruises on her leg and released, an official said. The "Banzai" ride was functioning properly, an official said. He said Ervin Allen, 41, of Philadelphia, either slipped or stepped in the path of a steel footrest attached to a seat.